Police officers injured on January 6, 2021 during the storming of the Capitol may sue the former head of the White House, Donald Trump. This was announced on March 2 by the TV channel NBC with reference to the US Department of Justice.
“Contacting the public on matters of public interest is a traditional function of the President <…>. This does not include incitement to imminent violence,” the agency said in a statement.
The ministry concluded that the actual incitement to assault in Trump’s Ellipse speech was outside of constitutional obligations and not protected by absolute immunity from civil lawsuits filed by police officers and members of Congress.
On January 6, 2021, supporters of President Trump, dissatisfied with the results of the 2020 US presidential election and believing that their results were rigged, rioted on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Protesters attempted to seize the Capitol building and stormed inside. As a result, the building was destroyed, five people died, including a policeman, several dozen were injured and arrested.
On December 19, 2022, Trump said that holding him accountable for the storming of the Capitol would indicate an attempt to exclude him from the new elections. According to the ex-president, the presentation of similar claims has already failed. Trump himself, against the background of these accusations, stated that he had immunity.
Later, on December 23, it was reported that the US House Select Committee investigating the attack on the Capitol in January 2021 recommended that Trump be banned from the next presidential election. This recommendation was made during the collection of a report on the investigation of what happened at the Capitol.
On the same day, it became known that the special committee recommended filing four criminal cases against the former US president. Trump, in turn, called the published report on the investigation into the storming of the Capitol a witch hunt.
